It's Time To Crack The Whip! :: Pimlico Plumbers

It’s about time someone holds Universities responsible for all their bogus claims, and the Advertising Standards Authority is right on track with it.

But I think forcing the offending Universities to scrap their misleading marketing campaigns is just the first step on a long path that society as a whole, needs to take.

Fact is, Universities have been misleading students for years. They are cash-hungry institutions who dishonestly sell students the dream of a good life, obliging them to run up eye-watering debts of more than £50,000.

The amount of young people out of work and study is creeping up and I believe it’s down to the culture of university brainwashing.

Just this morning, we’re hearing that unemployment has fallen (despite Brexit meaning the number of people in work in the UK has seen its biggest fall in the past two years - signs that slower growth has reduced demand for workers) but lets talk about young people specifically.

Earlier this year, analysis conducted by the Learning and Work Institute think tank showed that the number of young people aged 16-24 Not in Education, Employment or Training (Neet), for a year or more, rose from 9.8 per cent to 11.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year, compared with the first quarter of last year.

This means that the amount of young people spending time neither studying nor working is on the rise, and for me, that’s a big worry.

On the face of it, yes, we’re tackling unemployment as a whole, but we’re missing the mark on the youngsters that don’t have anything lined up when they leave school. We need to think about why young people are taking longer to embark on an apprenticeship, further education or employment.

We need to allow young people to decide on their future without fear or favour, but in order for this to happen, they need to be armed with the facts.

School leavers need to be aware of all the opportunities available to them, rather than constantly hearing the false promise that there is no good life without university, and that going to one and getting a degree is worth the money you pay because you will graduate with a high paying job.

There is of course at least one other way to a good life, a fulfilling career, plenty of money, and all that goes with a six figure salary, and that's an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships also come with the added bonus of having no fees, so no debt and you actually get paid while you're learning your trade.